About My Site Design
In terms of the images, I wanted them to all be somehow representative of the subject matter. Towards that end, in the section "Happiness and the American Way" a significant portion of the images are close-ups of water. I liked the idea of using images of water because to look closely at water means to see one's self reflected back. As a metaphor, I thought that it was a good visual representation of what I wanted to do with the text. In the section where the focus is me, I use images of lotus flowers because I like them so much, even have one tattooed on my lower back. For the pages where I discuss religion, I use images of Buddha and when I discuss Plato's Allegory of the Cave, I use pictures of a cave, and so on. Overall, I have chosen images that are either real or metaphorical representations of the subject matter of the text.
I have also incorporated an overall outline of the site. It is linked to all of the photos so that at any time, you can click on a photo and be taken to a sort of "table of contents." As a voracious book reader, I myself am comfortable with a very linear reading experience--you read one page, turn it and read the next, top to bottom, left to right, beginning to end. With websites incorporating linked pages, it is easy to get lost and frustrated. My hope is that by including an overall outline that can be accessed from any page, I will reduce the chances of that happening here. Using most browsers, links to pages that you have already visited will turn a light gray.
Now, you should be ready to continue reading my manifesto--"Happiness and the American Way."